JP3273496B2 - Liquid fuel for combustion appliances and combustion appliances - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid fuel for a burning appliance such as a lighter having a combustion wick and a burning appliance using the liquid fuel.

[0002] In particular, the present invention relates to the fact that, in a burning appliance such as a lighter for a smoking article, a lighting fixture, etc., when alcohol is used as a fuel, the combustion flame becomes colorless and is difficult to see. The composition relates to a composition of an alcohol-based liquid fuel which is designed to increase the fuel pressure.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, as fuels for burning appliances such as lighters for smoking articles, igniters, torches, lighting equipment, etc., alcohol fuels such as ethyl alcohol, petroleum benzene-based benzene fuels, and liquefied gases such as butane gas and propane gas are used. Fuel is being used.

[0004] The performance, ease of use, and design structure of each burner differ depending on the type of fuel used, and each burner has its own characteristics.

For example, in the case of a benzene fuel using a mixture of petroleum benzene hydrocarbon compounds, the fuel is a mixture of compounds having different boiling points, and a benzene component having a low boiling point volatilizes in an early stage of use after ignition of a burning appliance. Since the volatile components are sequentially shifted to hydrocarbons having a high boiling point, the fuel composition remaining in the combustion equipment changes according to the burning time,
This causes a change in flame length. Also, benzine is highly volatile and, in the case of burning appliances that use it, requires a sealed structure to reduce volatilization from the fuel storage part and the wick. If this sealing is insufficient, the fuel will volatilize. It is lost, replenished frequently and cumbersome, and this benzine has a peculiar smell and may not be preferred.

In the case of liquefied gas fuel, the gas pressure is high in the operating temperature range of the combustion equipment, and the container for storing the fuel needs to have a pressure-resistant structure. Further, the flame length changes in accordance with the fluctuation of the gas pressure. In particular, there is a characteristic that the gas pressure greatly varies logarithmically with the temperature, and there is a problem that the flame length greatly changes with the temperature. In order to reduce the change in the flame length, special design measures for correcting the temperature of the fuel supply mechanism of the combustion appliance are required, which makes the structure complicated and disadvantageous in cost.

On the other hand, in the case of alcohol fuel, lower monohydric alcohols such as ethyl alcohol, methyl alcohol, and propyl alcohol are liquid at ordinary temperature, have relatively low vapor pressure, and are tightly sealed with respect to the fuel storage section and the combustion wick. It is possible to use a sealed structure that does not volatilize, which is advantageous in terms of simplification of the structure of combustion equipment and cost, but the flame is colorless and it is difficult to see the flame, so it is difficult to confirm the ignition and combustion state in a bright place Have a problem.

[0008] Various proposals have been made for coloring the flame when using the alcohols as fuel.
As a first method, there is a method in which a flame colorant is blown into a combustion flame to color by a flame color reaction, but this method is difficult to employ in a small burning appliance such as a lighter.

As a second method, there is a method of dissolving a flame colorant in alcohol fuel. As the flame colorant, a metal salt which exhibits a flame reaction and is soluble in alcohol is used. Examples of the flame colorant using this metal salt include cupric oxide, strontium chloride, potassium carbonate,
Lithium nitrate, lithium chloride, borate ester, lithium bromide, cesium carbonate and the like (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-1).
55480, JP-A-61-222981, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 1
-101071, JP-A-2-147657, JP-A-4-117493, JP-A-4-65488, etc.).

[0010]

However, in a combustion apparatus using a liquid fuel obtained by adding a metal salt to alcohol as a flame colorant as described above, the liquid fuel is sucked up by a combustion wick using a capillary phenomenon. In the structure that ignites the tip, the flame colorant sequentially sucked up together with the alcohol fuel is deposited on the surface of the combustion wick with the combustion, and the deposited metal salt causes clogging of the combustion wick. Due to this clogging, the uptake of fuel in the combustion wick is reduced, the flame length is shortened, and eventually ignition failure occurs.

In the present invention, a flame colorant which does not cause clogging of the combustion wick due to the addition of the flame colorant as described above has been studied, and the problem of colorless flame in alcohol combustion has been solved. Therefore, the convenience of using the liquid fuel is improved.

That is, in the case of a combustion appliance using an alcohol fuel containing alcohols such as lower monohydric alcohol as a main component, consideration should be given to the volatility of benzene in a combustion appliance using a petroleum benzene-based mixed hydrocarbon compound, and liquefaction. This eliminates the need to consider high-pressure gas in combustion equipment that uses gas fuel, simplifies the structure, and provides excellent characteristics such as stabilization of the flame length of the combustion flame, and flames that do not affect these flames. A liquid fuel for a combustor and a combustor such as a lighter for a smoking article using the fuel, in which the combustion flame is colored effectively by selecting a coloring agent so that the ignited combustion state can be easily visually recognized. It is.

[0013]

A liquid fuel for a combustion apparatus according to the present invention which has solved the above-mentioned problems is a liquid fuel for a combustion apparatus such as a lighter using a combustion wick that sucks up the fuel by capillary action. It is characterized in that ethyl alcohol is used as a main component, and at least one of hexane and heptane having substantially the same boiling point as the main component is added as a flame colorant in an amount of 2 wt% or more.

[0014]

[0015]

On the other hand, the combustion apparatus of the present invention using a fuel having the above-mentioned composition contains ethyl alcohol as a main component, and at least one of hexane or heptane having a boiling point substantially equal to that of the main component is added as a flame-coloring agent in an amount of 2 wt% or more. A fuel storage section storing the liquid fuel, a combustion wick that sucks up the liquid fuel in the fuel storage section by using a capillary phenomenon and burns at a tip end, and an ignition mechanism that ignites the combustion wick. It is a feature.

[0017]

According to the present invention, at least one of hexane or heptane having substantially the same boiling point as the main component as a flame colorant is added to ethyl alcohol as a main component.
By composing the liquid fuel to which t% or more is added, hexane or heptane as a flame-coloring agent is also burned with the burning of the main component ethyl alcohol, and the flame is colored by high-temperature emission of the free carbon, and the burning is performed. The flame can be easily recognized, and this coloring is yellow-orange and close to the natural flame color, so that it does not give an uncomfortable feeling to use, and the combustion of hydrocarbon compounds does not involve precipitation such as metal salts. Therefore, a stable flame-length combustion can be obtained even when used for a long period of time without causing clogging of the combustion wick, simplification of the sealing of combustion equipment, stability of combustion flame, etc. The characteristics as can be fully exhibited.

[0018]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a liquid fuel and a combustion apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The basic composition of the liquid fuel according to the present invention is mainly composed of alcohols of lower monohydric alcohols such as methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol or propyl alcohol, and hexane, heptane, octane and nonane having substantially the same boiling point as the main components. , Cyclohexadiene, cycloheptene or the like, and one or more hydrocarbon compounds based on saturated hydrocarbons added as a flame colorant.

The melting points and boiling points of the above fuel components are as follows: methyl alcohol: melting point -98 ° C., boiling point 65 ° C. ethyl alcohol: melting point -115 ° C., boiling point 78 ° C. propyl alcohol: melting point -127 ° C., boiling point 97 ° C. hexane: melting point -97 C, Boiling point 69 ° C Heptane: Melting point -91 ° C, Boiling point 98 ° C Octane: Melting point -57 ° C, Boiling point 126 ° C Nonane: Melting point -51 ° C, Boiling point 150 ° C Cyclohexadiene: Melting point -95 ° C, Boiling point 81 ° C Cycloheptene: Melting point- 56 ° C, boiling point 115 ° C.

As mentioned above, the boiling point of ethyl alcohol is 7
As a saturated hydrocarbon having a boiling point of 8 ° C. and a boiling point close to this temperature, hexane having a boiling point of 69 ° C. or heptane having a boiling point of 98 ° C. is added as a flame colorant. Also, both hexane and heptane may be mixed and added. When this liquid fuel is injected into a lighter described later (see FIG. 1) and ignited, the tip of the combustion flame becomes yellow-orange, and the length of the colored portion increases with the amount of the flame coloring agent added. And the ratio to the total flame length increases.

As the flame of the lighter, this flame is visually observed,
In consideration of igniting tobacco, it is possible to color the flame by adding a few percent of the flame colorant, and a low degree of coloring at the flame tip can be achieved even by adding a small amount. Therefore, an appropriate amount of the flame colorant is added according to the necessary coloring range (the details will be described later).

If alcohols as a main component of the liquid fuel are limited to the fuel of a lighter for smoking equipment, they may be inhaled when igniting a cigarette. Therefore, methyl alcohol has toxicity to the human body. It is better to avoid in terms of having. Further, propyl alcohol and higher alcohols are not preferable because they have a peculiar odor. From these points, it is appropriate to use ethyl alcohol as the liquid fuel of the smoking article lighter.

The above-mentioned flame colorant has a boiling point equivalent to that of alcohols as a main component, so that when this liquid fuel is sucked into a combustion wick and ignited and burned, the burning time is reduced. With the passage of time, the main component and the flame colorant decreased at almost the initial mixing ratio, and the flame length and the coloring were not changed as the ratio of the remaining liquid fuel to the flame colorant did not change. It has the characteristics that the flame length does not change and the combustion continues without clogging.

Next, FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional structure of a lighter as an example of the combustion apparatus of the present invention. Lighter 1 of this example
Has a bottomed cylindrical tank 2, a fiber material 3 (filling) is inserted into the tank 2, and an upper lid 4 is fixed to an upper portion of the tank 2 to store the above-described liquid fuel. The fuel storage unit 5 is configured.

For example, the tank 2 is a molded product made of polypropylene and has an inner volume of 5 cm ³ . The fibrous material 3 is made by pressing 0.5 g of a polypropylene fiber having a thickness of 1 to 2 denier into the tank 2, and 95 wt% of ethyl alcohol and 5 wt% of n-hexane are added to the fibrous material 3.
% Mixed liquid fuel is injected and impregnated with 4 cc and stored.

Further, a wick holder 6 is provided to vertically penetrate the center of the upper lid 4 into the tank 2, and a porous combustion wick 7 is fitted into the wick holder 6. The lower end of the combustion wick 7 comes into contact with the fiber material 3 in the tank 2 and sucks up the liquid fuel impregnated in the fiber material 3 by capillary action. The tip of the core projecting upward is ignited and generates a flame to be burned.

The combustion wick 7 is, for example, a glass fiber (length 55 mm, weight 0.2 g) bundled in a rod shape having a diameter of 1.4 mm, and furthermore, its outer periphery is covered with cotton fiber, and a diameter of 2 mm. The wire is reinforced by winding a copper wire so as to have a thickness of 0.8 mm, and is formed in a porous rod shape. The tip of the wick 7 protrudes from the wick holder 6 by, for example, a length such that the flame length becomes 30 mm. In this example, the length is about 7 mm.

Further, an ignition mechanism 10 is disposed on the upper lid 4 so as to face the core tip of the combustion core 7, and the ignition mechanism 10 is provided in a bracket 11 fixed to the upper lid 4 so as to be movable vertically. A rotary file 13 is provided at the upper end of the bracket 11, and a tip of the igniter 12 is provided on the peripheral surface of the file 13 in a structure in which the tip of the igniter 12 is pressed by the urging force of the stone pressing spring 14. Is provided so that the sparks fly toward the combustion wick 7 by the rotation operation of.

A cap 16 is provided to cover the combustion wick 7 and the ignition mechanism 10 so as to be openable and closable. The cap 16 is rotatably supported by one end of the upper surface of the upper lid 4 by a pin 17. I have. A sealing material 18 is interposed at the contact portion between the cap 16 and the tank 2 or the upper lid 4 to be airtight, and to prevent evaporation of the liquid fuel.

When the cap 16 of the lighter 1 is opened and the ignition mechanism 10 is operated to ignite, a flame 9 is generated from the combustion wick 7, but the tip of the flame is colored by a flame colorant with respect to the entire flame length. The flame 9a is colored, and the lower part of the flame below the flame 9b is a non-colored flame 9b. The flame lengths A and B indicate the ranges measured in the experimental examples described later.

Next, an experimental example in which the above-described lighter 1 is used to inject alcohol-based liquid fuels of various compositions as described above into the fuel storage section 5 and the combustion thereof is evaluated.

<Experimental Example 1> In this experiment, the relationship between the amount of the flame colorant added to the alcohol main component and the color flame length was measured. A liquid fuel in which the addition amount of ethyl alcohol as a main component and n-hexane as a flame colorant was changed was prepared, and 4 cc of the fuel was injected into the lighter, and the total flame length of the combustion flame was adjusted to 30 mm. Of the colored flame length A and the uncolored flame length B were measured.

The results are shown in the graph of FIG. In the state where the flame colorant is not added, the entire flame is a non-colored flame, and the yellow-orange colored flame length increases as the added amount of n-hexane increases, and the non-colored flame length decreases accordingly. The increase in the colored flame length is sharply increased in the region where the amount of the flame colorant added is 5 wt% or less, and almost half of the flame is colored with the flame colorant added at about 3 wt%. When the addition amount exceeds 10 wt%, the increasing rate of the coloring extension decreases, and by adding 40 to 50 wt%, almost the entire flame is colored.

In an actual lighter for a smoking article, it is sufficient if the flame is colored to about half of the total flame length. Therefore, it is preferable to add the flame colorant (n-hexane) to 2 wt% or more. It is.

When the flame colorant is n-heptane and the amount of the flame colorant is changed in the same manner with respect to the main component (ethyl alcohol), the change in the color flame length A is the same as in the above-mentioned n-hexane. The result was obtained.

<Experimental Example 2> In this experiment, the number of times of use of the lighter and the change of the colored flame length were determined. As a liquid fuel, 95% by weight of a main component ethyl alcohol is added to a flame colorant n
As in Experimental Example 1, 4 cc of this liquid fuel was injected into a lighter, the total flame length was adjusted to 30 mm, and ignition was performed by an ignition operation.
The fire was extinguished after burning for 5 seconds, and this use was repeated, and the length of the colored flame was measured every predetermined number of times.

The results are shown in the graph of FIG. Even if the number of times the lighter is used increases, the coloring flame length is constant without change. This is because even if the remaining amount of the liquid fuel changes due to the use, the ratio of the added amount of alcohol to the flame colorant does not change.

When the flame colorant is n-heptane and the change in the color flame length with the same number of uses is measured, the same result as above is obtained, and no change in the coloring ratio is observed.

<Experimental Example 3> In this experiment, the relationship between the number of times the lighter was used and the total flame length was measured in comparison with a fuel to which a flame colorant made of a metal salt was added. The liquid fuel of the present invention is
Is 95% by weight of ethyl alcohol and 5w of n-hexane.
t%, the second example is ethyl alcohol 9
5 wt% and n-heptane 5 wt%. The liquid fuel of the comparative example is ethyl alcohol 95 wt%.
In which 5 wt% of lithium chloride is dissolved. These fuels were injected into the lighter in 4 cc increments, the initial flame length was adjusted to 30 mm, and the same use as in Experimental Example 2 was repeated.
The total flame length was measured at predetermined times.

The results are shown in the graph of FIG. In a comparative example using a metal salt (lithium chloride) as a flame colorant, the flame length sharply decreases as the number of times of use increases. This is because lithium chloride precipitates at the tip of the combustion wick every time the fuel is used and the amount of liquid fuel leached is reduced to shorten the flame length. As a result, the fuel remains after about 300 uses. Although ignition was not possible, it was impossible to use because ignition combustion was not possible. In contrast, in the examples of the present invention, even when n-hexane was added as a flame colorant, or even when n-heptane was added, the flame length did not change even if the number of times of use increased, and the flame length did not change. I keep it stable.

<Experimental Example 4> In this experimental example, a change in the total flame length with respect to a change in the outside air temperature was measured together with a comparative example using a liquid fuel based on petroleum benzene and a comparative example using a liquefied gas lighter. As in the experimental example 3, the liquid fuel of the present invention was prepared by mixing 95% by weight of ethyl alcohol and 5% by weight of n-hexane in the first example, and by mixing 95% by weight of ethyl alcohol and 5% by weight of n-heptane in the second example. It was done. The liquid fuel of the comparative example is petroleum benzine.
4 cc of each of these liquid fuels was injected into the lighter, and the change in flame length was measured while changing the outside air temperature in the range of 5 to 40 ° C. In another comparative example, a commercially available liquefied gas lighter filled with a liquefied gas containing i-butane as a main fuel was prepared, and the flame length was measured by changing the outside air temperature in the same manner. In each case, the reference flame length is 30 mm at an outside temperature of 23 ° C.
It has been adjusted so that

The measurement results are shown in the graph of FIG. In liquefied gas lighters, the flame length increases as the outside air temperature rises. This is because the flame length of the liquefied gas depends on the saturated vapor pressure of the gas, so that the gas pressure increases due to an increase in the outside air temperature, and the gas ejection amount increases. On the other hand, the liquid fuel of the first and second examples of the alcohol system of the present invention, and
When a liquid fuel made of petroleum benzine was used, there was no influence of the vapor pressure of the fuel, so that a large flame length change did not occur in the range of the outside air temperature of 5 to 40 ° C.

<Experimental Example 5> In this experiment, the change in overall flame length with respect to the elapsed combustion time (continuous combustion) was measured in comparison with petroleum benzine. The liquid fuels of the present invention are the same two types of alcohol fuels as the first example using n-hexane as a flame-coloring agent and the second example using n-heptane as a flame-coloring agent. It is a liquid fuel of petroleum benzine. 4 cc of each of these liquid fuels was injected into the lighter, and after adjusting the flame length to 30 mm at an external temperature of 23 ° C., the mixture was allowed to stand for a while and then continuously burned for 2 minutes to measure a change in the flame length. .

The results are shown in the graph of FIG. In a lighter using petroleum benzine as a fuel, the flame length increases with the elapse of the burning time, and reaches 40 mm after about 90 seconds. In contrast, in the example of the present invention, the initial flame length of 30 mm is kept almost stable.

<Experimental Example 6> In this experiment, the spontaneous evaporation rate of liquid fuel was measured in comparison with liquid fuel using petroleum benzine. As described above, 4 cc of each of the two alcohol-based liquid fuels of the present invention and the liquid fuel based on petroleum benzene of the comparative example were injected into a lighter, the caps were opened, and the time elapsed when left naturally. The amount of fuel evaporation was determined.

The results are shown in the graph of FIG. Because petroleum benzine is highly volatile, fuel evaporates quickly with a lighter that uses petroleum benzine as a fuel, whereas with the lighter of the present invention, the amount of alcohol fuel evaporated is small and the rate of fuel reduction is slow. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a lighter for liquid fuel according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the result of Experimental Example 1 in which the relationship between the amount of a flame colorant added and the length of a colored flame of the liquid fuel of the present invention was determined.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the result of Experimental Example 2 in which the relationship between the number of times of use of a lighter using the liquid fuel of the present invention and the colored flame length was determined.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the results of Experimental Example 3 in which the relationship between the number of lighters used with the liquid fuel of the present invention and the total flame length was determined together with Comparative Examples.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the results of Experimental Example 4 in which the relationship between the outside air temperature and the flame length in a lighter using the liquid fuel of the present invention was determined together with Comparative Example.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the results of Experimental Example 5 in which the relationship between the continuous burning time in a lighter using the liquid fuel of the present invention and the flame length was determined together with a comparative example.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the results of Experimental Example 6 in which the relationship between the amount of time left open and the amount of evaporation in a lighter using the liquid fuel of the present invention was determined together with Comparative Example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Lighter 2 Tank 3 Fiber material 5 Fuel storage part 7 Burning wick 9 Flame 9a Colored flame 9b Uncolored flame 10 Ignition mechanism 16 Cap

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-258987 (JP, A) JP-A-5-59377 (JP, A) JP-A-62-179595 (JP, A) French patent application published 2639355 (FR, A1) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) C10L 1/16

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A liquid fuel for a burning appliance such as a lighter that uses a combustion wick for sucking up fuel by capillary action, comprising ethyl alcohol as a main component and hexane or heptane having substantially the same boiling point as the main component. Characterized in that at least one of the above is added as a flame colorant in an amount of 2 wt% or more. 2. A fuel storage section containing a liquid fuel containing ethyl alcohol as a main component and adding at least 2 wt% of hexane or heptane having a boiling point substantially equal to that of the main component as a flame colorant, A combustion device comprising: a combustion wick that sucks up liquid fuel in the fuel storage portion by using a capillary phenomenon and burns at a tip portion; and an ignition mechanism that ignites the combustion wick.